Night Light for Couples - Doing What Comes Naturally

“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5

Humanistic and Christian psychologists differ significantly in how they view human nature. Secular psychologists see children as born “good,” or at least “morally neutral.” They believe children learn to do wrong from parental mistakes and a corrupt society.

As Christians, however, we know otherwise. Deep within our character is a self‐will that is inborn, part of our genetic nature. We desire to control people, our circumstances, our environment—we want what we want, and we want it now. Adam and Eve demonstrated this when they ate the forbidden fruit. Toddlers stamp their little feet and throw temper tantrums. Husbands and wives illustrate the same willfulness when they argue about how to spend money—or about whether the toilet paper should roll from the front or the back. King David referred to this basic human nature when he wrote, “In sin did my mother conceive me.”

Only Jesus Christ can help us deal with the depravity that leads us to be selfish, arrogant, and disobedient. He has promised to do for us what we are powerless to accomplish on our own. Let’s talk about that.

Just between us…

•  Do you agree that humans are born with a bent toward sin? Why or why not?
• Is there an area of your life that used to be a struggle, but that you’ve given over to God with positive results?
• Do you think selfishness is a problem in our marriage?
• How can we encourage each other in this area?

Father, we admit our sinful and selfish ways. We look to You for forgiveness and healing. Thank You for Your mercies. We need Your power to change— and we reach for it together. Amen.

From Night Light For Couples, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson
Copyright © 2000 by James Dobson, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Daily Readings for July 10, 2016 - 8th Sunday of Pentecost

Deuteronomy 30:9-14 

and the LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the LORD your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

Psalm 25:1-9
¹   To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you; let me not be humiliated, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
²   Let none who look to you be put to shame; let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.
³   Show me your ways, O LORD, and teach me your paths.
⁴   Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long.
⁵   Remember, O LORD, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting.
⁶   Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; remember me according to your love and for the sake of your goodness, O LORD.
⁷   Gracious and upright is the LORD; therefore he teaches sinners in his way.
⁸   He guides the humble in doing right and teaches his way to the lowly.
⁹   All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. 

Colossians 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

Luke 10:25-37
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

The Forward Day by Day Meditation for July 10, 2016 - 8th Sunday of Pentecost

Luke 10:36-37 [Jesus said] “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” [A lawyer] said,” The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” 

I am a soft touch. I’m okay with that. I made a decision long ago that I would rather give money to the wrong person than refuse to help the right one. This means I have probably given money to a lot of hucksters. I’m okay with that too.

I can’t pass a man begging without thinking of my son. That man was once someone’s little baby. Somewhere between that innocent baby and the raggedy man on the street, something bad happened. No one begs because it’s enjoyable.

I can’t pass a woman begging without thinking of my mother. What if our lives had gone just a little differently? What if she’d been just a little less hale and hearty? The difference between a home and being homeless is sometimes just one late payment.

Show mercy. Imagine it’s you. Imagine the stranger is your child, your mother, your friend. Treat strangers as well as you would want them to treat your loved ones.

Go and do likewise.

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Standing Strong Through the Storm - EMPTINESS AND FILLING

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. Psalm 42:1

Ron Boyd-MacMillan writes in his epic volume, Faith That Endures:

I remember interviewing a former Muslim extremist in Egypt. He had converted to Christ in his early twenties and led a Church for Muslim converts. This is illegal in Egypt, and the fellowship was betrayed to the police. Soon this young man found himself in prison. He was tortured. An electric cattle prod was pushed into his mouth. He was whipped and hung from the ceiling with his hands tied behind his back. But all this paled into insignificance compared to what other prisoners called “the experience.” He was pushed into a stone box, a cube about five feet square. No light. No latrine. And he was left there for a month, food being passed through a grate every few days. Most prisoners went mad as a result of “the experience”—but not him.

He found Christ there, and the words he used to describe his experience are still the most brilliant description of the process of how persecution actually delivers more of God:

“In great suffering you discover a different Jesus than you do in normal life. Normally we are able to hide from ourselves who we really are and what we are really like. The ego is well defended. But pain changes all that. Pain and suffering bring up to the surface all the weak points of your personality. You are too weak to mount the usual defences, and you just have to gaze at what you are really like. I was a wreck in that cell. I was reduced to tears all the time. Crying, weeping, sobbing, and wailing in the never-changing utter darkness.

“I came face-to-face with how awful I really was. I saw all the horrible things I had done, all the horrible things I was. I kept seeing myself again and again. But just as I was about to collapse into complete despair and self-loathing—and probably die—an incredible realisation burst into the cell like an exploding star. It was this: Jesus loved me even right then, as I sat in my own filth, weak, helpless and broken, empty and sinful. Even in that state, He loved me, and Christ rushed in and filled me, and the filling was so great because I was so empty.”[1]

RESPONSE: Today I realize that God can use persecution to draw people closer to Himself.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord that You fill us when we are truly empty. Help me not to hide my real condition from myself and before You.

1. Ron Boyd-MacMillan, Faith That Endures (Grand Rapids: Fleming Revell, 2006), p. 319-320.

Verse of the Day - July 10, 2016

Philippians 1:6 (NIV) being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Read all of Philippians 1